Graduation is a Bittersweet Time

Sue says:

Despite all the excitement of the graduands getting ready for their sendoff, it must be admitted that graduation is also a painful process. For this current batch, we've known a few of them their entire four years. Some of them we welcomed to our house when we were just new here as well.



This female student came into my office this week to invite Jeff and I to her graduation party. It was very difficult to say that though we would love to attend, we had already accepted another student's invitation.

So I asked her to sit down, and we thought together about the things people would comment on at her party. She was unsure of her English at the beginning of her studies, but she worked on that subject. She was in my counseling class and Jeff's church history.

In her intensive year, she needed to help her ailing mother. Since she must stay close to home for that, she wasn't able to raise the fees she needed for her last year. We happened to be home at that time, and a female physician who attended one of the meetings at which we spoke was concerned for women students in PNG having a more difficult time with their fees. The supporter made a contribution that helped this student and several other females for this current year. What a blessing to be able to return with that good news.

When this student arrived back on campus, she was surprised to be asked to be one of two senior students who look after the single women. It had previously been arranged that two other women would be the seniors, but neither of those women was able to come back. Would she do it?

Being a senior student takes a lot of time and effort above the usual class assignments. Knowing the difficult position the single women's faculty supervisor was in, she said yes. It has been a stretching year. One single woman had to be expelled. Though it was a wrenching process, it was gratifying to hear that the counseling training had been a help in the senior student role.

Yes, we came to train students to be Christian leaders, and part of the process involves trusting God in difficult situations. This student and others have seen God prove Himself strong in their years of training here. We rejoice with them! And we shed a few tears together too as we prepare to part.